Melbourne teen Sevdet Ramadan Besim jailed over Anzac Day plot

A MELBOURNE teen who plotted to behead a police officer in an Anzac Day terror attack will spend at least seven and a half years behind bars.

Artist impression of accused Sevdet Besim during a hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

A MELBOURNE teen who plotted to behead a police officer in an Anzac Day terror attack will spend at least seven and a half years behind bars.

Sevdet Ramadan Besim, 19, pleaded guilty to a single terror-related charge over the 2015 plan to run down an officer and behead him in a rampage that would ultimately end in the teen’s own death.

He allegedly wrote he was “ready to fight these dogs on there (sic) doorstep” in online communications with a person overseas, according to court documents.

“I’d love to take out some cops,” Besim is alleged to have written.

“I was gonna meet with them then take some heads ahaha.”

The Hallam teen was handed a 10-year jail sentence in the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday and must serve at least seven and a half before he is eligible for parole.

Sevdet Ramadan Besim will spend at least seven and a half years behind bars.

The teenager won’t be eligible for parole until he’s 26.

His barrister, George Georgiou, SC, said Besim was never considered a “problem child” by his parents.

“They regarded him as a kind and considerate young person who showed respect towards his elders,” he told Besim’s plea hearing last month in the Victorian Supreme Court.

“He did not smoke, did not drink, did not indulge in drugs.”

Besim’s barrister said the Hallam teenager wasn’t being kept with the mainstream prison population because of the nature of his charge.

“There is a fair chance he will remain in protection for a significant part of his sentence,” Mr Georgiou said.

Besim has been in custody since April 18 last year when 200 heavily armed officers swooped on the city’s southeast, arresting five teens and seizing knives and swords.

Police said he was motivated by an extremist ideology and had expressed support for proscribed terrorist organisations, particularly Islamic State, which adopt a radical interpretation of Islam.